OK then, since my copy of Conway's is not here right now, I have consulted the fantasy reference-Janes. In the general notes, it is stated that the class was originally designed with a flush deck. It was discovered that this caused the boat to dive on its own! The solution was to build up the bow to provide additional buoyancy. There appears to be no other purpose for it. The torpedo arrangement was 4-18 inch forward and 4-18 inch aft.

_________________David

"We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat; they do not exist"Victoria 1899

I now have my copy of Conway's with me and will relate actual facts about this ill-conceived class. Displacement: 1980 tons (surface) 2556 tons (submerged)Dimensions: 330 feet overall 26 feet 63/4 inches beam 17 ft draughtMachinery: 2 shaft Brown-Curtis geared steam turbines. 2 Yarrow boilers. 4 electric motors.This yielded 10,500 shp surfaced 1440 shp submerged.Armament: 10-18 inch torpedos. 4 bow, 4 beam 2 in a revolving mount in the superstructure. 2-4inch cannot and 1-3 inch anti aircraft gun. Complement: 59The K-class was due to the Admiralty requesting a submarine that could make 20+ knots. The diesel engines available could not meet this requirement. The K-class was a follow on to the 2 earlier designs, Nautilus and Swordfish neither of which saw any action and were broken up in 1922.They were the fastest on the surface submarines of the war but there wasn't any doctrine for how to operate submarines in close contact with light cruisers and battlecruisers. This resulted in numerous accidents and poor performance when actually deployed.

_________________David

"We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat; they do not exist"Victoria 1899

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